The invention is directed to an automatic infusion pump testing apparatus for performing a number of tests on an infusion pump to determine whether the pump is operating correctly.
An infusion pump is used to automatically administer liquid medicant to a patient. The liquid medicant is supplied from a source of medicant and pumped into the patient via a catheter or other injection device. The manner in which the liquid is infused is controlled by the infusion pump, which may have various modes of infusion, such as a continuous mode in which the liquid medicant is continuously infused at a constant rate, or a ramp mode in which the rate of infusion gradually increases, then remains constant, and then gradually decreases.
Infusion pumps must be periodically tested to determine whether they are functioning properly. Typically an infusion pump is tested by connecting the pump to some type of testing apparatus and then manually causing the pump to operate by pumping liquid. The pump operation is typically initiated by a test operator by manually activating an input device, such as a keypad, associated with the infusion pump. The need to have a test operator present during the test procedure to manually operate the infusion pump increases the cost of testing infusion pumps, particularly where a relatively large number are tested, and the work performed by a test operator is tedious.